by Brent

You’ve done a lot of touring since our last interview. How has the touring gone? What were the highlights and lowlights of your touring?

I’ve been on the road a ton since our last talk. Touring has been really great. I’ve met a ton of great people all around the country and seen a lot of amazing places I’ve never seen before. For example, this last tour I was able to see San Antonio, TX and Charelston, SC both in the same week. It was pretty cool. For me, the highlights of touring are the people that I meet and stay with. Most recently, we were invited to play a memorial concert for a girl who was killed in an automobile accident. Her whole family was there. That was probably one of the most honored feelings I’ve had with my music before. As for lowlights, long drives and bad money always suck.

Tell us a bit about the idea behind The Living Room Tour.

It stemmed from a few different sources. My friend Phil Olson (who be doing a seminar at Cornerstone this year) actually did the first one. He had other couples over for dinner. They each paid to come. I was paid for my performance. In addition, Jeremy Quillo’s dad asked us to play some songs for him one night. Afterwards, he commented that this is what people used to do before radio and television. The more I thought about those situations, the more I loved the ideas. So, I sat down and figured out how to make it work for everyone. I love the idea. It is one of my favorite touring ideas so far. If anyone wants to do a Living Room show or hear more about this, e-mail me at eubanksbooking@juno.com.

You’ve worked on a charity empressa song for the compilation on Grand Theft Autumn records. What was that process like? Are you involved in any other Charity Empressa recordings?

I sent Eric a ton of base drones and percussion jams and he uses them as he sees fit. He jams on top of them and forms songs from there. I’m actually not physically present for any of the recording. I just do my basic drones and send them to him and then he makes the magic happen from there. I will show up here and there on the new Charity disc, which is scheduled for release sometime before Eric dies. I think it will be the best Charity record yet – as well as the last.

What direction is your songwriting taking right now, both musically and lyrically?

My last two records (Meditation, Contemplation and Prayer and West Coast Politics East Coast Love) – in addition to having absurdly long titles – are both somewhat fringe records musically. They are a little more off the beaten path. So, many of my newest songs are more accessible to people. They are trimmed down in time, the melodies follow traditional melody patterns and there are more pop hooks in the songs.

As for lyrically, WCP ECL was somewhat of a dark record musically and lyrically. Many of my new songs are not dark – they are lyrics about Faith, Hope, Love and Celebration. I got tired of singing dark lyrics night after night. That’s not who I am. I’m not consistently a dark person. Many of the new lyrics were written considerably faster than those on WCP ECL, as well.

Tell us a bit about some of the projects of other artists that you’ve helped out with.

I’ve been working with Chris Palmore now for a couple of years. We will probably continue to work on his full-length for another year as well. We both have extremely busy schedules and travel a lot, so sitting down to work at Ear Candy at the same time can be tricky. His newest songs I think are his best. He has some gems among his recorded works. I engineered and played percussion on Jeremy Quillo’s last record. I also engineered a portion of his first album as well as played percussion and sang some background vocals. We have talked about me producing his next record. Ben Paskitti is starting a new band in the fall. I will probably be involved with that somehow. I will probably produce their record. I have also done things here and there for other artists that no one has heard of. I love producing. I hope to do more of it in the future.

What recordings are you working on right now?

I am working on the initial 5 or 6 tracks for my next full-length, entitled The Harmony Of. I will release it as an EP first, with a full-length by the same name to follow within a year. I have really labored over these songs. They have taken far longer than any of my other recorded efforts. I have enlisted the help of a lot of great musicians to make it happen. Many are saying these are the best songs I’ve ever written. They are much more straightforward, standard format songs. They are more like pop songs. But much more rock than my other stuff. I’m pretty excited. I think they are cool.

Any idea when the Audio Fashion cd will be completed? What is the status of that project? Can you describe it for our readers who are not familiar with it?

The Audio Fashion is a project consisting of myself and a singer named Ronald J. Shariff. I bring the brit rock, the drones, the vibe and the audio. Ron brings the soul, the jazz, the gospel and the fashion. I come from a white rock background. Ron comes from a black soul background. If this project ever comes to fruition, we will be bigger than Justin Timberlake. However, it is currently on hiatus. Ron is finishing school and I am touring. It is hard to tell at this point when we will have the time and the realistic scenario where we can sit down and write together again. I am hoping for the Fall.

You have mentioned that you may be going to Ethiopia soon. What are the plans for that trip like?

This is actually a bit of an in-depth question. Basically though, I am planning on going to Ethiopia in order to study percussion and worship with various worship leaders from the indigenous people groups. I want to take the sounds, the community and the syncopation of percussion and craft it into a record that the Western church could use. I will be traveling there with some of my closest friends and their two children. He will be serving as my interpreter. If anyone wants to know more about this, I would be glad to share. I am actually looking for financial investors for this project. It will be an extensive undertaking requiring multiple trips to Ethiopia and will probably take me several years to compile and merge the on-location recordings I will do there with the American overdubbing I will be doing here.

In our last interview, you mentioned that you were working on writing a book…where are you with that?

I wish I could say I was further along, but I’m not really. I currently have 3 different book ideas I am developing. I just can’t do much on them because the only time I have to work on them is when I am on tour, but I don’t have a laptop, and writing it all out would be very difficult for editing and reproduction reasons. I hope to slow down in my touring in about a year, at which point I could FINALLY sit down to write these books. However, I am currently pursuing writing a column with a couple of magazines.

What cd’s are you listening to right now, and what book are you reading?

Lately, I have been inspired by:

Johnny Cash – American IV

David Wilcox – The Best of

The Violet Burning – This Is The Moment

Common Children – The Inbetween Time

Goo Goo Dolls – Dizzy Up The Girl

Sigur Ros – ( )

Currently, I’m reading Enter The Worship Circle (which is wonderful. I highly recommend it.) and I’m about to start the book Nigger.

What is in the future for Jesse Eubanks?

The immediate – Getting out of financial debt, getting a record deal, getting some savings, touring.

The inner – Trying to learn to love God more, trying to enjoy reading the Bible again, becoming a better listener, and learning to love others more than myself.

The hopeful – falling in love, spending time with friends and family, and making beautiful art.

Anything else?

Thanks, Brent, Jason and Phil. It’s amazing how much this site has grown since the first interview. The work you do is making its mark. Keep up the great job!

www.jesseeubanks.homestead.com

eubanksbooking@juno.com

Jesus loves you. He really does.